Domenico Perrazino, the well-known Montreal barber higher often known as “Ménick,” nonetheless remembers when Maurice Richard received 5 straight Stanley Cups with the Canadiens within the late Nineteen Fifties.
Years later, when Man Lafleur led a dynasty within the Seventies, Ménick reduce the free-flowing hair of “Le Démon Blond,” and the 2 turned lifelong mates.
“I’ve seen nearly all of them, the Stanley Cups,” stated the 85-year-old Ménick. “I used to be there.”
However what’s taking place this spring, he stated, feels completely different. Montreal has at all times lived and breathed the Canadiens, however the frenzy is someway reaching one other stage these playoffs — even with the crew solely within the second spherical.
Menick poses for {a photograph} at his barbershop in Montreal, on Thursday, Might 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov.
Menick poses for {a photograph} at his barbershop with an apron devoted to Montreal Canadiens participant Man Lafleur, in Montreal, on Thursday, Might 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov.
“I could have by no means felt it like this,” Ménick stated from his Masson Road store on the sting of the Plateau neighbourhood, the place the ground is painted like a skating rink and pictures of Quebec’s preeminent celebrities line the partitions.
“Proper now, it’s so particular. We have now so many younger stars,” he added. “The Canadiens at all times had profitable groups, so it was at all times one after one other. However it’s been 30 years since we’ve received something. That didn’t occur earlier than, so now we’re hungrier.”
The Canadiens, winners of a report 24 Stanley Cup titles, haven’t lifted the trophy since 1993, however the present version is younger, electrifying and giving Habs trustworthy motive to imagine the drought might lastly finish within the coming years.
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A rowdy crowd crammed the 21,000-seat Bell Centre final Sunday despite the fact that the Canadiens have been enjoying Sport 7 on the street in Tampa, Fla. On sport days, 1000’s of followers pack the streets surrounding the world as downtown morphs right into a full-on occasion.
That fervour has unfold throughout the town, the place lineups for sports activities bars now generally spill onto the sidewalks outdoors.
The keenness carries on on the field workplace. Past the playoff video games — the place the get-in value for Sunday’s Sport 3 approached $500 — the crew advised season-ticket holders this week it had set a brand new Bell Centre report with a renewal fee “simply barely below the 100 per cent mark.”
Not stunning that buildings and companies in Montreal are shopping for in.
The Rialto Theatre, a Nationwide Historic Website on Park Avenue, opened its doorways without spending a dime watch events. Hydro-Québec modified its emblem at headquarters, illuminating all the things besides the lightning bolt through the Canadiens’ first-round matchup towards the Tampa Bay Lightning. A number of eating places adopted swimsuit within the second spherical, altering the names of “Buffalo” wings menu gadgets because the Canadiens face the Sabres.
St-Viateur Bagel, one of many metropolis’s iconic outlets in Mile Finish, has been making bagels formed just like the Canadiens emblem (although they’re not on the market). Only a few blocks away, fashionable doughnut store Bernie Beigne has pink, white and blue doughnuts flying off the cabinets.
A bagel within the form of the Montreal Canadiens emblem is taken out of the oven after baking at St-Viateur Bagel in Montreal, on Thursday, Might 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov.
A bagel within the form of the Montreal Canadiens emblem is formed by baker Pedro Benitez at St-Viateur Bagel in Montreal on Thursday, Might 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov.
“We’re promoting no less than 300 to 500 Habs doughnuts alone (on a sport day),” stated Bernie Beigne worker Gabriel Ioannoni.
Hip basement dive bar Double’s briefly modified its signal to “Dobes’s” after the primary spherical in honour of Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes. The homeowners then took it a step additional by putting a mattress over the pool desk for patrons to pose for pictures, a nod to a viral Instagram publish from the rookie goalie.
“We have been so enthusiastic about beating Tampa Bay as a result of we hate them a lot, and the artistic juices have been uncontrolled,” stated co-owner Victor-Alex Petrenko. “Each thought was a good suggestion.
Victor-Alex Petrenko, co-owner of Double’s bar in Montreal poses for {a photograph} after briefly re-naming the bar to Dobes, after the Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes, on Thursday, Might 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov.
“All of the eating places, all of the bars are crammed with folks. The vibes are excessive … It’s simply good for the town.”
Ménick, who’s additionally been dubbed “le barbier des sportifs” — the athletes’ barber — has been working his store for 67 years, since opening it at age 18. He stated he thought he’d seen all of it, however that is completely different.
“Even earlier than, the eagerness wasn’t the identical, as a result of right this moment it’s extra commercialized, the media consideration is larger than it was,” he stated. “It’s all over the place.”
Menick started working in sports activities to construct a clientele, serving in media relations for the Montreal Junior Canadiens and Laval Nationwide, the place he obtained to know gamers like Man Lapointe and Mike Bossy.
“That’s how I managed to make myself recognized,” he stated.
Present Canadiens gamers don’t go to Chez Ménick for haircuts: “I’m 85 years previous, I can’t hang around with Cole Caufield,” he stated.
However he, like legions of Canadiens followers, is loving this group from afar.
“This 12 months, with (Nick) Suzuki, Caufield, (Juraj) Slafkovsky, (Ivan) Demidov, (Lane) Hutson … And with the way in which Martin St. Louis is beloved and the blokes play for him,” he stated, pointing to a photograph of himself and the Canadiens coach on the wall. “I say we’ve got a crew for the subsequent 10 years.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Might 8, 2026.
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